Comments on: Is Your Smoke Detector Beeping and Chirping with New Batteries?

By: investigazioni private

investigazioni private — Sun, 04 Dec 2011 15:28:40 +0000

Thanks for the info, Smoke detectors are one of the most important elements of any home or business security system. A properly installed smoke detector is an incredibly effective way to alert yourself and your family to the presence of a fire in your home. It can be the difference between saving your home and losing everything or the difference between life and death. Each year many people in North America die in home fires that could have been easily prevented with the simple presence of smoke detectors.
Thx.

By: Mark W

Mark W — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 02:51:26 +0000

Kamron has good steps to follow but not the details. I have found just replacing a battery in a chirping detector does not reset or clear the chirping. It must be drained and memory cleared with no battery or 110 volt power on it! I have the hardwired 110 volt ones with bat backup. I removed one of them and left it off the wires and remove the battery. The thing beeped for 2 days until it died and ran the internal charged capacitors dead. Whew – unreal! Of course I did that as a test and put the thing in the garage far away. Sometimes to get a good reset take these steps. 1. Power disconnected 2. Battery removed 3. Push and hold the test button to drain the internal capacitors for up to a minute or longer sometimes. Then for good measure leave it sit for an hour press and hold the test button again to drain it, THEN install the battery and 110 volts. Also lightning can ionize the air around your house so they can chirp during storms if you have that type.

By: Kamron

Kamron — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 16:13:04 +0000

1. Diconnect from power source.
2. Remove batteries
3. Press button till stored power drains.
4. Clean, Blow, and replace batteries.
5. Connect to power source

By: Simon

Simon — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 11:14:35 +0000

My smoke alarms started chirping every few seconds this morning 06/14/11. Woke me up from my beauty slumber. I thought there were birds in my house, early am. There was an electrical storm and heavy rain outside. Turns out that the test/reset circuit breaker which has the smoke alarms in circuit triggered off. I guess there was no AC to the smoke alarms so the chirping. I just hit the reset button and chirping is fixed!

By: Pia

Pia — Sun, 05 Jun 2011 21:29:27 +0000

AIR IN A CAN.. can MAYBE solve the every 30 second bib problem. At least it did in our place. After the smoke alarms went on 2 months ago (smoke from the fireplace) all alarms in the house has been beeping on and off. To day I finally saw this idea on the website, went to home depot, got at can of air, got the longest ladder up on 3rd floor, took down the alarm, and shot the air into the alarm. I guess I blew out some dust. Been working well.

By: Mark Warne

Mark Warne — Fri, 15 Apr 2011 10:12:59 +0000

this worked for me-
take out the old battery[s]
wait a minute or two
replace batteries in each alarm if they are hard wired together
test each alarm in turn
I have two mains/battery alarms wired together and this works every time
if you only do one alarm still test all of them.

By: El

El — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 03:15:33 +0000

my alarm is chirping even it the battery is out how do I fix that

By: Cheri

Cheri — Sun, 27 Feb 2011 10:01:22 +0000

We purchased a used home a few months ago and it has 4 Lifesaver Model 1275H smoke alarms installed. We keep having beeping from the alarm on the main floor. We have done everything suggested, change battery, reset, cleaned, etc. It continues to beep. It says that it should be replaced in Dec 2014. When we took it completely down and looked at the wiring, the white wire that is connected to the plug is not attached to anything above. We can’t find anything to attach it to. Any suggestions?

By: DEB

DEB — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 19:23:14 +0000

Have a detector that has a flashing red light and occasionally beeps. New battery doesn’t change the red light to green. Why are some of my green lights solid and others are flashing?

By: Sharon

Sharon — Mon, 21 Feb 2011 07:34:51 +0000

I too have the kind that starts chirping at 3: am and then quits when it warms up outside. We went camping for the weekend so turned the heat down, and when we returned the detector was chirping at regular intervals. When I turned the heat on and the house warmed up the chirping stopped but it starts up again when the house cools off about 3 am. Mine are hardwired, the batteries have all been replaced, they have been cleaned.Ridiculous! I have 14 detectors. Who approves this crap?

By: Tom

Tom — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 11:12:40 +0000

Alen,

Clever!… but aren’t you afraid that you might have a CO2 problem? I’d be paranoid and probably get another detector just to be safe. When something spills over in the oven and we get a lot of smoke I’ll have one of my detectors go off incessantly. I usually just reach up, twist it out of the base and take it over to a slightly open window until the smoke clears.

By: Alen

Alen — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 17:55:05 +0000

Here is the fix that might work for you without any hassles.

Ours started chirping a few days ago and since being new homeowners, we found it baffling. We have a hardwired detector but there is also a battery compartment. But since it was hardwired, I didn’t think it was a battery issue and also didn’t think it started beeping because it needed to be replaced.

So I simply opened both windows to the room even thought it was freezing outside to see if the detector was indeed detecting something.(lol) And sure enough, the chirping stopped within a minute! I guess there was “little” CO2 stuck in the ceiling as it is a closed room with minimal access to fresh air(if it was huge amounts, it would beep normally or very loudly and frequently).

Hope this helps.

By: Ruth Ripley

Ruth Ripley — Mon, 27 Dec 2010 23:18:16 +0000

12/27/10 Replacing Batteries in overhead Fire Alarms
Must use 9Volt, Duracell, MN1604 or Everyready, 1222 or 522 or 216
Slide out drawer, remove old battery. Be sure to see that “+” side of new battery is to the left. The + side of the battery is where the smaller contact is. If batteries are not inserted correctly alarm will continue to chirp every minute or so. Close drawer. Push reset button (button that glows red when working & that makes the alarm sound). Hold your hands over your ears. It only sounds for a short time. That’s it.

By: Veejay

Veejay — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 02:54:25 +0000

If your detector still chirps, even without the battery (and is definitely not connected to wired power) it likely has a capacitor that is holding some charge. If you press the test button, to cause it to sound the full alarm, you’ll likely drain any residual charge held in the capacitor. (you might need to do it a couple times, depending on the size of the capacitor)

By: karen

karen — Tue, 07 Dec 2010 13:07:19 +0000

Thank you! I’ve been having the problem of a chirping smoke detector and this is very helpful.

By: kevin Dav

kevin Dav — Fri, 26 Nov 2010 16:31:01 +0000

I just had the same problems with intermittent chirping (about
every 40 seconds)with Kidde smoke alarm after being fitted 8 years ago .
It is battery low warning. I then replaced the single 9V battery and it still carried on chirping for about 1 hour .after which it suddenly went ok.
So the only thing i can think happened was the supposedly NEW battery had been
sitting on the shop shelf for a long while,so the voltage had dropped ,after an hours small current drain (or being in a warm house)the battery reached it’s full 9v .

By: Rich

Rich — Tue, 16 Nov 2010 13:33:51 +0000

The article doesn’t really cover this and seems to jump to the conclusion that the smoke detector needs to be replace. I called Kidde who had me check a) the manufacture date / expiration date on the back and then the expiration date on the battery. I didn’t know batteries had expiration dates printed on them. Both were good, so we replace the battery and pressed and held the Test button for 3-5 seconds. It beeped in two groups of three. She told me it was reset and not to touch the hush button or it would start chirping. She told me to put it on the counter for 5-10 minutes if it doesn’t chirp, you’re good to go. So try the reset before you buy new and call the support line printed on the back of the detector.

By: Kevin

Kevin — Wed, 03 Nov 2010 09:46:35 +0000

I had the same problem. Replaced old detectors (10), they all are hard wired and have battery backup. The chirping did not stop. I switched them around. It stopped for 2 months, but is now starting again. Is a problem with any of the 10, going to cause the chirping with a single unit? If I hear the chirping and stand under the unit I believe is the cause, another unit chirps. When I move to that unit, the chirping comes from another unit. Help!

By: Carp

Carp — Sat, 23 Oct 2010 14:23:52 +0000

What sucks is when you buy the detector, and it’s 3 years old on the shelf

By: Tim Strange

Tim Strange — Sun, 17 Oct 2010 03:20:15 +0000

Similarly with some of the above correspondents my KIDDE somoke alarm began chirping three days ago, and despite changing the batteries the chiorping continued. As I only purchased the alarm 18 months ago I don’t feel it is fair that I should buy a new one so soon. If Kidde cannot bother to make a smoke alarm that lasts 4-5 years then forget it.